I saw THE PILLOWMAN the same day I saw SHOCKEHEADED PETER.
That made for a pretty strange Saturday.
The Broadway production of THE PILLOWMAN really was an extraordinary production of a very good play, probably McDonough’s best. (I regard McDonough as a so-so-to-good playwright.) Jeff Goldblum is an actor to whom strange choices come naturally, which made him an excellent fit for Tupolski. He was very, very funny and played with a weird loose-limbed physicality that often made it look like he was dancing his way through the play. He was also very scary, but nothing compared to Zeljko Ivanek, who played Ariel as something closer to a walking frayed live wire than a real human being. He was genuinely terrifying, and you always had the impression he was going to snap and tear off Katurian’s limbs at any second. He spoke as if he was about to lose his voice. There was something very unnatural about him.
Michael Stuhlbarg completely embodied Michal. The audience rode with him at every twist and turn, and every emotion he elicited was rife with nuance – pain, heartbreak, anger, sympathy, all rolled into one, every time. And I had never thought of Billy Crudup as more than a serviceable film actor before this. But the weight of this play really rises and falls on Katurian, no matter how terrific the other three actors are, and he more than brought the force of emotion down at the end.
And, Jane, you’re absolutely right about the second-level scenes. They were so frightening and weird and stark and visceral. The next time I saw the play done professionally was in a black box a few years later, and I remember my heart sinking when I realized that, no matter how good the production would be, it wouldn’t be able to replicate those moments.
CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES
